Will Al Gore use Nobel Peace Prize to launch new bid for US presidency?

Friday 12 October 2007 08:37 BST

Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday and promptly came under renewed pressure to run for the White House.

The former U.S. vice-president shared the award with a UN panel for his work on climate change.

Although Mr Gore refused to rule out a presidential challenge last night, his aides have insisted he will not enter the race.

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Nobel winner: Al Gore

Opinion polls currently show Hillary Clinton with a clear lead in the battle to gain the Democratic nomination for next year's election. But political pundits say Mr Gore, 59, could overturn that.

Democrats are worried that Mrs Clinton could lose to a strong Republican candidate because of her early support for the now deeply unpopular war in Iraq.

Mr Gore and Mrs Clinton are also known to have a bitter personal dislike of each other.

As Bill Clinton's First Lady, she constantly snubbed Mr Gore's wife Tipper and he has so far refused to endorse her campaign.

However, it seemed the New York senator was keen to extend the hand of friendship to her former antagonist last night.

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Documentary: A scene from An Inconvenient Truth

Insiders leaked word that if Mrs Clinton were elected president, she would appoint Mr Gore as an Ambassador to the World on climate change issues.

She is thought to be concerned by the level of popular support enjoyed by Mr Gore.

A group called draftgore.com took out a full-page advert in the New York Times this week urging him to run.

It said that none of the current candidates had his "experience, vision, standing in the world, and political courage".

Whether or not Mr Gore does try to get back into the White House, it is clear he has achieved an amazing comeback since losing the 2000 election to George Bush.

Millions still believe that he defeated Mr Bush in the popular vote – only to be robbed of the presidency in the chaos of the Florida state recount.

Even now, Mr Gore often introduces himself by saying: "I used to be the next president of the United States."

After retiring from politics, he made an Oscar-winning documentary on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth.

The polemic – based on a Power- Point lecture – was an unlikely box office success in 2006.

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It has been sent to thousands of British schools by the Government.

But despite Mr Gore's endorsement by the Nobel committee, the High Court last week found that the documentary was riddled with scientific errors.

Mr Justine Barton said it should only be shown to schoolchildren with a health warning. Mr Gore has also faced accustions of hypocrisy, after it was revealed his mansion in Nashville uses more energy in a fortnight than the average American family consumes in a year.

The former politician said yesterday he was "deeply honoured" to receive the Nobel peace prize, whose previous winners include Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.

"The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity," he said.

"This award is even more meaningful because I have the honour of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world's pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis."

Mr Gore said he would give his share of the £766,000 prize to a green campaign group.

Dr Piers Forster from the University of Leeds, who has worked with the UN panel, said: "It's every scientist's dream to win a Nobel prize, so this is great for myself and the hundreds that worked on their reports over the years.

"It perhaps a little deflating though – that one man and his PowerPoint show has as much influence as the decades of dedicated work by so many scientists."